#LiquorBan: Madras HC stays govt attempt to denotify National, State Highways [Read Petition]

One cannot claim to have not seen this coming. Less than a month after the Supreme Court’s ban on sale of liquor 500 metres from National and State Highways, the Tamil Nadu government has attempted to denotify these highways..And now, the Madras High Court has put a temporary halt to this move..In a writ petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the opposition party in the state, the ruling party was accused of “escaping the clutches of the law declared by the Supreme Court”. The petition states,.“Whenever the Hon’ble Supreme Court issues directions to the government, the same must be implemented in strict sense with letter and spirit and no attempt shall be made to nullify the same in any form…”.The petition challenges an order passed by the Commissioner of Municipal Administration on April 21, directing all Commissioners of Municipal Corporations in the state to take over National Highways, State Highways, District Roads and Panchayat Roads before April 25..It also states that the Supreme Court in its March 31 order, had ruled that those liquor stores in Tamil Nadu, which had obtained or renewed their licence prior to the court’s December 15 order, would not be allowed to operate after April 1 of this year. Moreover, the apex court did not grant an exemption to Tamil Nadu for liquor stores located on State Highways which fall within the territories of municipal and local areas..The petition states,.“…it is clear that there is no extension of time given to the State of Tamil Nadu and no exemption is given to state roads falls (sic) within the territories of municipal and local areas through which a segment of a highway passes…”.The petitioner sought an interim injunction on the impugned order and any resolution passed by municipal authorities to the effect of denotifying the aforementioned highways and roads..Yesterday, a bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar granted the interim injunction, and further restrained the state government from opening TASMAC liquor shops along national and state highways for three months. Senior Advocate P Wilson appeared for the petitioner..The case is now posted for July 10..Tamil Nadu is not the only state to attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling; the state governments of Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and others have also tried similar ploys. A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging a notification by the Chandigarh administration which denotified state highways..Read the petition: (Download the petition to view it clearly!)

#LiquorBan: Madras HC stays govt attempt to denotify National, State Highways [Read Petition]

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